Kevin Bru believes the Championship is stronger in the current campaign than it was last season, the Town midfielder’s first in English football.

Bru made a total of 36 appearances last term, two of them in the FA Cup, to help Town finish in sixth place and he was in the starting line-up for both play-off clashes with arch-rivals Norwich.

But he has featured less regularly this season because of injuries, the first of which he suffered in the opening-day draw at Brentford, and he admitted: “I have had a few problems with injuries and once I have recovered there has been somebody in the team doing well so I have had to wait again for my chance.

"If I play on the right or the left, rather than in the middle, no problem — I just want to play.

“In my opinion the league is stronger this season. I think every team is getting better and better, whether they are at the top or at the bottom.

“You could see it on Tuesday at Bolton. They are at the bottom but they had some quality players. But while it is a hard league we also have a good team.”

The Town squad were booked in for another cryotherapy session yesterday, having also had one on Monday before heading north for the Bolton game, and Bru is a fan of the ‘deep freeze’ treatment designed to aid players’ recovery.

He said: “It is very cold for the two minutes you are in the chamber but I believe it is very good for the body. It is all about recovery, not just from the games but also the long trips by bus.

“It was five hours to Bolton and another five back, and it will be a similar distance to and from Cardiff. We need to be in the best possible shape at what is a vital stage of the season.”

Meanwhile, Bru will be one of the few Town players on international duty later this month when he joins brother Jonathan in the Mauritius camp for an important double-header.

The midfielder said: “We have two big games against Rwanda for qualification in the African Cup of Nations. We are third in the group at the moment with the same points as Rwanda so it’s two very important games.

“I hope we can get through and we have some new players who should make us stronger. It is a better team so we have a better chance.

“My brother is in the squad — last season he was in Portugal [with UD Oliveirense] and now he is in France [with AS Poissy], in the third division.

“We have another who is playing in the second level in Austria and another two from France, so the squad is definitely stronger than before.”

Photo: Action Images

jas0999 added 11:23 - Mar 11 I'm not sure it is. The championship has always been a strong league. Burnley and Hull are great teams, but the teams promoted last season were fairly strong too. I think this year we have seen more spending within the championship. But overall, it's as strong as always and I'm not convinced that we have been as good.
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MattinLondon added 11:55 - Mar 11 Ever since I can remember the Championship has meant to have been stronger than the previous season — if this is really the case every player in this league will be world class. Its not stronger — it is very competitive but I would say that the standard has dropped. A lot of fringe PL players seem to prefer to seat in the stands rather than playing week-in-week-out in a lower league.

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TimmyH added 16:19 - Mar 11 It's always been a very competitive league and there are in general usually 2 of the 3 relegated teams from the Premiership featuring in the top 6 and another 2 from the previous season which didn't get promoted hanging around in the top 6 as well and therefore 2 places up for grabs for other clubs. As for Bru's assessment that clubs are getting 'better and better' due to the Bolton performance well it's that time of the season when relegation threatened clubs start scrapping for their lives and upset teams well up the league. There's not huge differences between most clubs on their day but over the long season clubs like Hull, Burnley, Boro etc have a strong enough squad with enough quality to set them aside from teams like MK Dons, Rotherham, Bristol C etc... and that is the difference.

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